Wire-stretcher.



No. 828,820. PATENTED M18114, 1906. W. J. LINDLEY.

WIRE STRETOHER.

APPLIOATION FILED DEO.11,1905.

IINITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WIRE-STRETCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14, 1906.

Application filed 1ZJecember 11 1905. Serial No. 291,300.

which the objects above contemplated may be attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows in perspective my complete stretcher attached to a post with a barbwire held in one of the gripping devices, the

.handle portion of the operating-lever being removed. Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the stretcher as required for use in splicing wire. Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of one of the gripping devices, illustrating a spring for throwing the movable jaw toward the stationary jaw; and Fig. 4 shows a trans verse sectional view through the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference-numeral 10 to indicate a straight bar which is rectangular in cross-section. At one end of the bar is a chain 11, designed to encircle a post or to be attached to some other stationary support. Connected with this chain is a wire-gripping device having a stationary jaw 12, an eccentrically-pivoted aw 13, and a handle 14, thus forming a wire-gripping device of ordinary structure. At one end of bar 10 is a lever 15, pivoted to the bar at 16. bar 10 are two wire-gripping devices of ordinary construction, one of which will now be specifically described.

The numeral 17 indicates a stationary jaw member, having at its lower end a laterallyextending jaw, the upper surface of which is convex and corrugated at 18. On the rear surface of the jaw member 17 is a rectangular 100 19, designed to admit bar 10, so that sai jaw member may slide freely upon the bar.

The numeral 20 indicates the movable jaw member having at its lower end a lateral Mounted on the extension 21, projecting over the extension of the stationary aw member and having its under surface convex and smooth. This movable jaw member is pivoted at one corner of its upper end to the stationary jaw member by means of the pin 22.

As before stated, there are two gripping devices slidingly mounted upon the bar 10, and these gripping devices are operated by means of two rods. The first one (indicated by the numeral 23) is pivoted to the lever 15 above its fulcrum at one end, and the other end of the rod is pivoted at 24 to the lower corner of the part 20 diametrically opposite from the pivotal point 22. The other grip ping device is actuated by rod 25, pivoted to lever 15 below its fulcrum and pivoted to the movable jaw member of the remaining gripping device in the same way as is the rod 23.

I have provided means whereby a wire is prevented from moving laterally from be- L tween the jaws, as follows: Pivoted to each of the rods 23 and 25 is a guiding-arm 26 to hang downwardly adjacent to the forward edge of the gripping-jaws. These arms are pivoted, so that should they be caught by a barb on the wire they would readily swing to position parallel with the rod, thus permitting the barb to pass longitudinally, but firmly holding the wire from sliding outwardly between the jaws. In Fig. 3 I have illustrated a device for normally drawing the jaws to their closed p osi tion, said device comprising a contractibl'e coil-spring 27, fixed at one end to the edge of the movable jaw and passed in the rear of the fixed jaw, and attached at its other end to the opposite edge of the fixed jaw. In using my improved gripping device on ordinary fence-wire the spring is unnecessary. In some instances, however, the jaws may not grip the wire without some such means of drawing them together.

I have also provided means for limiting the longitudinal movement of the gripping device on the bar 10 by providing a strap 28, secured to bar 10 and overlapping the lever, a shoulder being provided in the strap to limit the movement of the lever.

In practical use and assuming the chain 1 1 to be attached to a fence-post, the operator then places a wire in the two ripping devices. This may be done by either threading the end of the wire through between the jaws successively, or else the arms 26 may be elevated and the wire placed in the gripping device ICC from the side, after which it is only necessary to operate the lever, and when thisis done it has the effect of moving one gripping device away from the post and drawing the other gripping device toward the post. As previously explained, the movable members of the gripping devices are pivoted at one corner to the stationary member and the operatingrod is pivoted to the movable member at the diametrically opposite corner, so that the gripping device that is moving toward the posts will firmly grasp the-wire and advance it, while the gripping device moving away from the post will have its movable jaw elevated. from the stationary jaw, and thegripping device will not begin to move longitutudinally of bar 10 until the said movable jaw is partly elevated. On account of the stationary jaw of the gripping device being corrugated and the movable jaw being smooth it is obvious that as the gripping device is moving backwardly over a barb-wire and in: the event that a barb should engage the jaws the barb will be engaged more firmly by the corrugated jaw than by the smooth one. Hence a pressure by the operating-rod upon the movable jaw will have the tendency to elevate it to its limit, because-the stationary jaw is detained in its movement along the bar by enga ementwith saidbarb, and obviously when the jaws are so widely separated a barbv may freely pass through between them.. Assuming that it is desired to splicea broken wire, the operator first conmeets the wire-clutchihgdevice on the chain 11 with one end ofthe broken wire, and he then places the-other end of the broken wire between the gripping devices on the bar 10. Then the lever is manipulated andtheends of the wire are brought together. Obviously 'in stretching the wire the loose end of" the wire is placed in the gripping device, and after that the operator need only oscillate lever 15 and the wire may be stretched to any desirable distance or any amount of wire may be advanced through and past the gripping devices, and the opoerator need not touch the wire after it has een placed in the gripping device. Furthermore, the device may be made of comparative small size, because the length of stroke of each gripping device is quite limited, so that a wirestretcher constructed in accordance with my invention can readily be made small enough to be conveniently and easily carried.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is-

1. An improved wire-stretcher, comprising-a bar, a lever fulcrumed to thebar, two rods pivoted to the lever on opposite sides of its fulcrum and two gripping devices each comprising astraight jaw mgmber, slidingly mounted on the bar and having a. laterallyeXtending jaw and a movable jaw member pivoted at one end to the stationary jaw member, and having at its other end a lateral projection coacting with the stationary jaw, said, rods being attached at their opposite ends, to the movable jaw memberabovethe jaws and a guiding-armpivoted toeach'rod adjacent to-the gripping device.

2. An improved wire-stretcher, comprising a bar, a chain attached to-oneend' of the bar, a wire-clamp attached tothechain, a lever fulcrumed' to the bar,two-rods pivoted to the bars on opposite sides of its fulcrum, guiding-arms pivoted to said rods near their other ends, two wire-gripping devices, comprising a stationary jaw member slidi'ngl'y mounted on the bar and having a laterallyprojecting'jaw having a roughened? convex upper surface and a movable jaw member pivoted at one corner-ofv its upper-.end tothe stationary member and having a laterallyprojecting-jaw at its lower end provided. with a convex smooth surface coactingwith the other jaw, said rods being pivoted to the-movable jaw members, at the diametrically-oppositecorners-from the points where said jaw members are pivoted, and means for'limiting the movement of the operating-lever, substantially as and for the purpose stat'edi.

' WILLIAM J LINDLEY.

Witnesses:

J'.,RAL1 H ORWIG, JULIA B. SMUTNEY. 

